This is a discussion on Anti's safe haven - Chicago (Arrest made in 4-year-old's shooting death) within the Concealed Carry Issues & Discussions forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Arrest made in 4-year-old's shooting death
Tribune staff report
Published October 13, 2006, 8:22 AM CDT
A relative has been charged with gun violations and ...

A relative has been charged with gun violations and other offenses in connection with the shooting death of a 4-year-old Evanston boy in his home earlier this week, Evanston police said today.

Authorities said Pierre Miller, 19, the uncle of Aaron Morales, had brought a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol into the Dodge Avenue residence about a week before the shooting and hid the weapon in a bedroom.

After the boy suffered the gunshot wound that killed him, Miller hid the weapon by tossing it in the attic, police said. The weapon was subsequently recovered.

Miller has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, obstruction of justice and endangering the life of a child which resulted in death, police said in a news release. In addition, he has been charged under an Evanston ordinance forbidding possession of a handgun, they said.

Police indicated they are not yet ready to call the boy's shooting accidental and self-inflicted, as originally surmised.

"Since none of the adults in the home have indicated that they witnessed the incident, the Cook County medical examiner's office is withholding a determination on means and method of the child's death until additional forensic tests are completed and recovered evidence is examined," the news release said.

Miller is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing this morning.

Police have said they became involved in the incident about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, when officers went to the two-story multi-unit building in the 1800 block of Dodge Avenue to investigate a report of a shooting and found Aaron Morales in a second-floor unit with a gunshot wound in his chest.

Aaron was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he underwent emergency surgery. On Wednesday afternoon, he was transferred to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he died.

An autopsy was conducted Thursday at the Cook County medical examiner's office. The official cause of death was listed as "pending police investigation," a spokesman said.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also is investigating, spokesman Jimmie Whitelow said.

He said a toddler and an infant who were home at the time of Wednesday's shooting are in the care of relatives.

Less gun control....more *self* control

Obvious: How did a felon...how did a 19-yr old felon get access to a firearm in Chicago!! He doesn't have a IL Firearm Owners ID Card (aka FOID)...damn, better work on that peaceful Utopia!

Obvious: How did a felon...how did a 19-yr old felon get access to a firearm in Chicago!! He doesn't have a IL Firearm Owners ID Card (aka FOID)...damn, better work on that peaceful Utopia!

Mike in (thank God) VA
(formerly of IL--courtesy of the USAF)

He probably bought it in some other state with very lax gun control laws like VA or NH or VT...we should really start to work on the laws in these states for the children. This is a perfect example of why we need more gun control at the national level.

He probably bought it in some other state with very lax gun control laws like VA or NH or VT...we should really start to work on the laws in these states for the children. This is a perfect example of why we need more gun control at the national level.

ugh :(

Yep. Felons can come to NH where we just hand out firearms at the front door of Dunkin Donuts. We're such a horrible state due to our lax gun control laws.

Antis love to say that felons obtain their guns out-of-state, in states where there are easier purchase requirements.

Is there any state where a purchase from a FFL does not require presenting proof of where you live? And then of course the FFL does not sell to you if you don't reside in the state where the FFL is doing business.

Of course, NOTHING can stop person-to-person sales if the two parties are both willing to do an illegal interstate sale; or even if it was all done inside IL, with a private sale to a prohibited felon.

Either way, this shows that gun control fails to accomplish any substantial good.

What exactly is "lax" about the firearm sale laws in VA?
Personally I find them to be pretty complete and balanced.
One can buy/transfer just one firearm per month unless they have a resident CHP. Sales are restricted to residents otherwise you must transfer the purchased firearm via an FFL to an FFL within your own state of residence. A person like this _felon_ would not have passed the required Brady Bill fed test & review. Further he'd not been able to transfer the firearm as his home zone does not support as much, and again he's a felon with no state FID in his possesion.